Recently had a visit to the Orion Mall in Rajajinagar with one of my friends, and trust me it is one of the latest and best mall so far. This is a typical mall with global features situated on the Brigade Gateway Campus that houses the tallest building in Bangalore – The World Trade Center. This is a signature project for the brigade group. Orion Mall is designed as a lifestyle mall, and will feature speciality outlets, services and restaurants. It will cover 750,000 sft of well-designed space. And is strategically located within an exclusive, 40-acre mixed-use enclave in a central part of the city. The architectural plan of Orion Mall has conceptualised by H.O.K, New York.
The enclave of Brigade Gateway takes a form around a man-made lake. Surroundings are covered by luxury apartments, set amidst gardens and courtyards, the exclusive Galaxy club, the 5-star Sheraton Bangalore hotel, North Star office tower Bangalore’s tallest building, the Columbia Asia Hospital, The Brigade School and of course, Orion Mall. Landscaped gardens, pedestrian paths and avenues will separate different sections of the enclave from each other. Aerial walkways will connect the hotel to the mall. Wide, median-split roads will ensure the smooth flow of internal traffic.
The mall is at the centre of the project thus giving you a good 360 view of the well-made surrounding. The artificial fountain and the lake with a good sitting space around is a location to spend during dusk to unwind yourself. This is quite spacious and houses the right retailers. The place is full of international brands and the food court is neat and tidy and has quite a lot of options to choose from.
As we made our way inside, I realised that Floor plans were designed in such a way that it draws you from one area/level to the next. At the entrance, there are 2 ground floors that provide you with a double opportunity for footfalls. There are two options to enter the mall, either from the ground floor 1, which is towards Dr Rajkumar Road or from the lake side. That mall is in geometric structure and tends to go on and on in different directions. There were many leading brand stores. We really did not go store by store or explore all the places that the mall stretched. However we did not miss out on much, Zara takes up most of one-half of the ground floor. I was puzzled thinking which store to enter, as there were numerous stores in the Orion Mall starting from A-Z, like Allen Solly, Arrow, BLACKBERRYS, Celio, CHEMISTRY, ColorPlus, ELLE, enamor, ESPIRIT, GO COLORS, Jack & Jones, Lee, Levis, Louis Philippe, MANGO, Nautica, Pepe Jeans, Peter England, Provogue, The Raymond Shop, Tommy Hilfiger, United Colors of Benetton, US POLO, Van Heusen, Van Heusen Women, Vero Moda, Vinegar, Wills Lifestyle, Woodland, Wrangler, Zara, Zodiac.
The place is probably spread over 4 floors. I did not even count the number of floors in the maze of all the escalators. They say that the doors are not for the customers to open, but will be opened for them. True to their words, at most stores, there were people to open doors and assist us graciously. And assistance is probably given to the right measure.
Most other stores were repeats of those that are in Garuda and Mantri. There were stores selling clothes, branded clothes, designer clothes, more clothes and accessories, leather stuff, shoes. I peeped into one of the footwear stores and was amazed to see a hundred colours of footwear. I know it will be very difficult to guess what footwear stores are present in this mall, but don’t worry here I list all the featured stores starting from A-Z. Bata, Clarks, Crocs, Hush Puppies, Inc.5, Mochi, Soles. The sportswear stores include Adidas, Nike, Puma, Reebok.
When I entered the upper ground floor, I was very happy to see Central Store, although there were other departmental stores like Debenhams, RmKV, Westside.
While I was roaming around the mall, I came across many electronic stores like Bose, Canon, Capdse, Foto Circle, Imagine, Reliance Digital, Samsung, Samsung Smart Cafe, Univercell.
After I visited Orion Mall, I felt that I made a right choice coming here. I saw many stores displaying beautiful ethnic wear in the front face of their stores. That was when I realised that I have to buy an ethnic wear for my friend’s wedding. Then I headed to Jashn store and was surprised with the awesome collection. There were other ethnic stores like Manyavar, Soch, Tamanna too.
There were many handbags and travel stores like Bagzone, Basecamp, Bulchee, Da Milano, Hi design, Samsonite Black Label, VIP Lounge. Orion Mall comprises of many health and beauty shops such as color bar, Health & Glow, Kaya Skin Clinic, Kiehl’s, Parcos, Premier By Dead Sea Premier, The Body Shop.
Orion Mall features Star Bazaar, Planet Home, Chicco, Mothercare, UCB Kids, Accessorise, Addons Men, Casio Ethos, Ethos, Fastrack, GordonMax, SthriElite, Swatch, World of Titan.
My friend was badly wishing to have a makeover, that was when we visited Affinity salon and trust me it was really worth going. You can also try footwork salon.
I don’t know about the purchase at all the stores, but Mall makes a perfect place where you can do loads of window shopping. The entire mall is sprawling and has plenty of benches and colourful settings to rest your heels that are tired after walking the whole area. There are plenty seats near to lakeside of the Mall, which give a very relaxing feel to the shopping experience.
After the heavy shopping then we stepped into food court. The food court was very well appointed here and the overall ambience including the Lake front was just awesome. Over 25 multi cuisine choices in a food court that is designed to be a perfect blend of the contemporary and the traditional European. If you enjoy food, you will love Orion. In food court you can find Beijing Bites, Empire, Fish & Chips, Kailash Parbat, Mad Over Donuts, Mangalore Express, McDonald’s, Pepsi, Punjabi By Nature, Rajdhani, Sbarro, Subway, Sukh Sagar, The Chocolate Room, up south, Yogurberry.
This mall also caters the Elite movie theatres for the excellent movie experience. PVR houses one of its biggest multiplex complex with 9 screens and also has a blu-o bowling alley which is ultra modern. Parking here is a rip-off and is costlier than others but you have no options.
Overall I can say that this Mall is a good place with a combination of entertainment, shopping and food. It is worth spending time near the artificial lake in the evening times. Though weekends are fun, avoid this place during the weekends as this place and surroundings get jammed. This is a magnificent Mall which is very spacious, convincing. I would definitely recommend this Mall over other Malls.